...about her experience while volunteering in Thailand.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay as an ecovolunteer at the Kao Look Chang Wildlife Rescue Centre. I was there with a friend for 3 weeks in February 2003.

On arrival I was amazed at how peaceful the sanctuary is, set in a beautiful location on a lake, surrounded by forest. All day you hear the enchanting sounds of the gibbons calling on the islands.

A big variety of animals come to the sanctuary, all with different sad stories of mistreatment by humans. Despite being a charity run mainly by volunteers, a high standard of care in maintained and the project welcomes all efforts to enrich the animals' lives.

All the day to day feeding and cleaning duties are distributed amongst the volunteers via a rota. Depending on how many volunteers there are, everyday duties can take between 2-5 hours.

What I enjoyed most about being at the sanctuary was that each day was a new experience - one day may be relaxing with light duties and time to explore and spend with the animals whereas the next could be hectic with new animals arriving and enclosures to be prepared.

One of the highlights of our stay was when the project manager, Edwin, took us on a jungle trip. The largest national park in Thailand is about 40 minutes drive from the sanctuary. It was an amazing experience to be able to see some of the species being cared for at the center living in the wild in such proximity. We also saw a variety of birds, langur, porcupine and wild elephants!

It is easy to see that Edwin and the Wildlife Friends of Thailand are extremely dedicated to the welfare and care of both individuals and endangered species such as the white-handed gibbon. It was a privilege to be a small part of a project that has the potential to make a real difference through wildlife rescue and education. I would highly recommend volunteering at Kao Look Chang to anyone wanting an exciting and rewarding experience.

Thank you to all Wildlife Friends of Thailand for making our experience so enjoyable.

Janine Locke

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